“I like you Jane. I think this is going to work well.
“Thank you Sir, me too.”
“Sir? Since when am I Sir. No, call me Sebastian.”
She laughed, and suddenly she didn’t seem nervous any more to be around me. I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not. “Sebastian. Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.” She had a twinkle in her eye and I wondered if there was a little more to this plain Jane than I first thought.
Chapter 10 - Jane
After going through the papers meticulously, I finally handed them over to Sebastian, telling him that everything looked perfect. I tried to sound nonchalant about it all but the truth was that I was doing somersaults in my mind at what I had just read. Abbie hadn’t quite finalized the final pay amount to me, only giving me a rough idea at the time. But the amount that I just saw on the paperwork showed that I would be getting twice the amount that I had initially expected. Which meant no more cards getting declined in front of cute men.
“Okay Jane, I think that’s it then. Abbie, who you spoke to on the phone, will come in and take over from here. She’s going to help get you all set up today. Thanks for coming in. Lovely to meet you and I look forward to seeing all the great work that you do for us.” Sebastian said. I could swear I caught him looking quickly at my breasts but I couldn’t be sure. Probably not. But why did I almost wish that he was? I would normally be very upset if I saw somebody looking at my breasts instead of at my face – and yet something about this gave me pleasure.
I smiled at him, still trying desperately to keep my composure. I still couldn’t believe that this was the man that I had been flirting with not so long ago. Worse, this was the man that I had spilled coffee all over and the man that had seen my card get declined. The man that I could barely look at because he was so damn hot. “Thank you Sebastian. I’m looking forward to working here. I already have some great ideas. It’s hard not to have ideas in a place like this.” I hoped that I sounded professional and worthy of the job.
I watched as he picked up the phone, trying not to stare at his perfection and yet at the same time desperate to find something imperfect about him. “Alison, please call Abbie into my office. Thank you.”
We waited in silence until Abbie came in and I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of getting out of his office. His office might have been big but I felt the walls closing in on me the longer I sat there. I was glad that I wouldn’t be working alongside him because he was far too much of a distraction. I still couldn’t believe that my new boss was the man that had seen me make such a fool of myself. I knew that if Danielle was in my place something like that never would have happened. Abbie walked in with a slight jump to her step and I felt an immediate liking to her. She was short, slightly plump in all the good ways, and had a smile on her face that was definitely genuine. I felt myself relaxing around her.
“Right, I’ll take over from here Sebastian. Hi Jane, I’m Abbie – lovely to meet you.” She came straight over and shook my hand. It was a firm handshake and I could see that she was used to doing business and to dealing with people. There was nothing nervous about the way she moved. She was confident in a very friendly and easy going way.
“Are you pretending to be the boss now Abbie?” Sebastian asked her with a cocky voice and I wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or teasing her.
“Eat your words Sebastian. One day I’ll be the boss of you.” She laughed, not in the least bit nervous around Sebastian. Perhaps one day I’d be able to be that cool around him too.
“Come on Jane, this way.” She motioned for me to follow her and I nodded awkwardly at Sebastian as I walked out. He grinned at me and again I couldn’t be sure if he was laughing at me or simply being nice. He was definitely a very hard person to read – unlike Abbie who seemed like an open book.
I walked out with Abbie and listened while she talked about the office and where I would be sitting. “I’m so excited to have you here Jane. We were blown away by your proposal and I knew from the moment that I spoke with you that you were going to be the one for this job. And luckily I didn’t have to convince the big man himself – he agreed with me from the start. But listen; don’t worry too much today or even tomorrow. I know how overwhelming first days can be. So I want you to use this time to just get to know the place and the people and I want you to feel comfortable. I always find that I work so much better when I feel comfortable and I know that is not going to happen on day one. Okay, so this is your desk.”
I almost whistled out loud at it. That’s how impressed I was by my new working space. I was used to always getting a small little corner office or cubicle to do my work and this looked like luxury to me. The space was big and fit a desk, a chair, a couch, a book shelf and another little table with ease. I looked around the room and saw four other spaces similar to my own. Most companies would squeeze in at least ten people, if not more, into a space like this. This one only had five. Abbie caught me staring and smiled.
“It’s a nice space isn’t it? I felt the same when I first joined. So, this is the marketing department. There are just five of us, you included, and it’s a great team. Let me introduce you to the others.” And then Abbie stood up on the chair and yelled, “Hey guys, this is Jane. Wave hello!” Two faces popped up and waved. I waved back, slightly embarrassed by this awkward introduction. “We’ll do a proper introduction later on for sure,” Abbie continued, stepping down from the chair, “Over there in the far right corner is Kevin and that over there is Michael. They’re very nice guys. They’re just busy on some deadline now so I’d rather introduce you properly when they’re not so stressed. Maybe we can all go have a drink sometime – I find that to be the best way to get to know people.”
I laughed at that, “I must agree.” Then I looked around and noticed two empty desks, “What about those?” I asked her.
“Oh, well this one is mine. And trust me, I am so happy to have a girl in the office with me now. What a relief. I think I’m starting to talk like a boy these days. My mom mentioned it to me the other day when I started telling some rude joke which I never would have found so funny before. And over there, well that’s the head of the marketing department – our boss. His name is David Ellis. He’s not in right now but you’ll meet him soon enough. I’ll be honest, between you and me, he’s quite a tough one. But if you do your job right you won’t have a problem. He’s a good boss, but not an easy one by all means. I’m just warning you because he can come across a bit scary at first. Just do your job and he’ll warm up to you. I actually like him now but in the beginning I thought he was awful.”
“Thanks for the heads up. It always makes a difference when someone tells you what to expect.” I said. I didn’t mind so much. I’d had plenty of bosses in the past that were the same. Most of the time they ended up being the ones that I got on with the most. They simply didn’t like any sort of inferiority in the work place, but if you proved yourself to them you generally stayed in their good books forever. Proving yourself was always the hard part but a challenge that I was always up to.
Abbie sat down with me and showed me the ropes. I felt comfortable with almost everything that she showed me. It was more a case of just getting the hang of a different system and figuring out how they did things here. But that was the same for any new job and I knew that the important thing was to just get through the first week. By week two you always felt more comfortable and by week three you generally just felt like part of the furniture. Still, the incident with Sebastian had thrown me a bit and I tried not to think about it. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with him much and I assumed I wouldn’t. Often, the owner was the one that you saw the least. David was probably the one that I had to worry about more. He was my boss. I was grateful to have Abbie around – she seemed like someone that I could get on with. She was a different sort of bubbly to how Amy had been and it was easy to spot the difference. In fact, I even thought Danielle would like her – and Danielle abhorred bubbly people. Whe
n Abbie left me to do some things on my own I sat back and smiled at my surroundings. The feel of Sebastian’s abs came into my head and I, once again, shoved it as far back into my mind as possible. I was here to do a job. And I was going to do it well!
Chapter 11 - Jane
The morning went by very smoothly. Despite easing me into the job there was still quite a lot that needed to be done and it was hard to do anything quickly when I was still figuring out how to do things. But I seemed to be picking things up easily and I was confident that I just needed a few days to fully integrate into the place. The environment at work was good but very quiet and the entire morning all I could hear was the clicking of fingers on the keyboard. Abbie assured me that it wasn’t always so quiet but the deadline had forced the boys to do nothing but work. Also, I noticed that everyone wore headphones so I assumed a difference in opinion when it came to music preferences meant that the only way we could listen to anything would be to come prepared ourselves. I was so glad about this because in my old job I sat alongside my boss who was adamant that the only music to listen to was the pop charts on repeat. It used to drive me insane but because she was in charge I could do nothing but grin and bear it. I wondered briefly what everyone was listening to. I tried not to but I had a natural tendency to judge people by their music choice. I often thought that the best way for me to figure out a person’s true personality would be to ask the following questions: What music do you like? Wine or spirits? Do you like animals? The answer, according to me, should be alternative rock, wine and yes. I made a mental note to ask Abbie at some stage. Then again I think Danielle liked spirits and had a particular liking for hip hop so perhaps these weren’t the best questions after all. My mind started drifting then to Sebastian. What would he like?
Then, just as I was thinking about him, I noticed a girl saunter in from outside, and walk straight past my desk and up to his door. She walked slowly and with purpose as if she wanted us to notice her. From where my desk was I had a clear view of his office and I watched to see what would happen. The girl was dressed in what had to be the shortest dress I had ever seen in my life – so short I thought that it might actually just be a shirt and she seemed to have a little bit too much make up on for that time of the day. She glared at me as she walked past. In her hand she was carrying a big box which looked to have various food items and drinks. She carefully placed the box down onto the floor, which took her a lot longer than it should have as she was unsteady in her high heels, and then she tentatively knocked on the door. After a while she knocked louder and shouted, “Sebastian, it’s me.” I literally saw her adjust her breasts so that they perched higher on her dress and then she bent down and picked the box up and waited. I saw her trying out a few different poses until she finally settled on the one leg cross slightly over the other while her one hip jutted out to the side. It looked rather ridiculous and very obvious. When Sebastian opened the door I noticed that he looked shocked to see her standing there, but then he quickly covered it with a smile and allowed her to walk back in. He looked out and saw me staring and I quickly put my head down so that he wouldn’t see the big blush forming on my face. I hated that I got embarrassed so quickly. The door shut and I saw that Abbie had been watching too. She looked at me and rolled her eyes and then came up to my desk.
“Hey, do want to go for lunch? That girl just reminded me that it’s lunch time. I don’t know what she had in that box but I got a whiff of it and it smelled delicious.”
“I have food but I left it in the car. Let me go and get it quick.” I said.
“No, don’t be silly. Lunch is on me today. Or should I say… on the company.” She whispered that last part and then laughed. “A very important marketing lunch I think! To be honest, I actually have a salad waiting for me on my desk – but it’s now the last thing that I want. I need real food.”
I laughed at that, grateful that I wouldn’t have to eat lunch that had been melting in my car all day.
“I’d love that!”
“Great, give me one second. I just want to finish up on an email and then we can go.” She ran back to her desk and furiously started typing, obviously more eager to eat then work.
While I was waiting for her I looked at Sebastian’s closed door, wondering who the girl was that was now inside with him. At first I figured she must be someone just delivering his lunch but now I wasn’t so sure. Firstly, if she was she would’ve just handed it to him and walked out. Secondly, she wouldn’t have been dressed like that. I wondered if I had imagined the look of surprise and disappointment on his face when he had seen her. Just then the door opened and I jumped up in surprise. The girl walked out on her own, without Sebastian and with her head down walked right past my desk and out the room. She wasn’t smiling and unless I had imagined it I could swear I saw tears down her face. I thought of calling after her but then thought against it – this had nothing to do with me. I looked back at Sebastian’s door which was now closed again and realized something – the girl hadn’t been carrying the box of food when she came out. What had gone on in there? But before I could think any more of it Abbie was walking towards me with a big smile on her face.
“Ready?” She asked.
“Yes. I’m starving and I swear I could eat a horse.” I admitted.
“Oh thank goodness. A girl with an appetite. I was worried you’d be one of those girls that had no interest in food. I just don’t get people like that. I feel completely disconnected to them. I mean… surely I’m not the only one who thinks about what they’re having for lunch while I’m having breakfast?”
I laughed at that and decided to restructure my getting to know someone questions – this was a great one to add. Food was just as important to me as wine was – if not more. “You’re not alone. I’m not sure I can be friends with someone that doesn’t like food. Or wine. Or animals really.”
She looked at me then and grinned. “Oh, you and I are going to get on just fine.”
“THIS is the restaurant?” I asked when we arrived. I didn’t at all recognize the place from my little walk around the casino when I had arrived that morning. It was beautiful and incredibly intimate – fashioned more like a cozy Italian restaurant than a work café. And it was very hidden away from the rest of the place which seemed odd to me.
“This is it. It’s only for the staff, which is why you probably haven’t seen it before. Tucked away from the rest of the casino. Aren’t we lucky? It’s far better than the one for the customers I think. I keep telling Sebastian that he should make that restaurant more like this one. I think it would be a great selling point for the place. But apparently he’s got lots of plans for the food and beverage side of the casino so I have a feeling we’re in for big changes in that regard. Oh and I’m not sure if he told you, probably not, but you get a 30% discount if you eat here as well as four ‘meeting based’ lunches a month. I’ll put this down on mine so don’t worry about anything for now. I’ll give you a sheet when we get back to the office and you can start keeping a record from tomorrow. I actually come here most days for lunch. Trust me, it’s far better than any food you can bring in yourself. There’s loads of options too, and while I always try to go for the healthy options I always tend to go for the bacon pasta special. It’s amazing.”
“Okay, you sold me. I’m going to try that one. Screw the diet! You can’t spell ‘diet’ without the word DIE.”
She burst out laughing. “You kill me Jane. That’s brilliant. I have to remember that one. There are certain days when diets should not exist. And I definitely think a first day on the job counts as one of them. And I’m just joining you on that because you know… that’s what friends do.” She said the last bit like she just doing me a favor.
“And what a great friend you must be then.”
“Two bacon specials please.” Abbie said to the waitress, and then she looked back at me. “So, how’s your first day going? It’s always a bit daunting. I remember my first day well… but trust me… you
’re going to fit in so well that soon you’ll feel like part of the furniture. I have a good feeling about you.”
“This place has amazing furniture so I certainly hope so! Actually, it’s going very well. I think I’m getting the hang of it. Thanks for all your help today.”
“Ah, it’s no problem at all. Geez, who was that girl that walked into Sebastian’s office. I don’t know what happened but she walked out looking very unhappy. And what was she wearing? Does she know it’s the middle of the day and it’s not a nightclub?”
“Yeah, I was going to ask you if you knew who she was. Poor girl, I felt so bad for her when she walked out. Even if she did glare at me when she walked past.”
“She glared at me too. She’s probably one of those women that hate every female that she meets. You know the type – they don’t want any women to get in the way of them and their man. Well, you’ll learn soon enough that Sebastian is VERY popular with the ladies and that this is not an uncommon occurrence. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just another one of his conquests that he has finished with. He’s not a bad person and he’s a good boss, but he’s most definitely a little bit too fond of women. Oh, I’ll just say it because nobody else is around – but he’s a womanizer for sure. You’ll see soon enough. But he’s a love them and leave them kind of guy and it doesn’t take long for the leave them part to happen. I was a little taken aback by how gorgeous he was at first but his looks have faded in my eyes. If I can give you one piece of advice that you should listen to above all the others it would be this: stay clear of Sebastian. You’ll only get hurt if you don’t.”
Auctioned to Him 7: The Contract Page 96